Black preview in Event Pan and Crop?

[John Rofrano]

Does this happen with every video file? even ones that use to work? or just this new file?

Do you have any codec-paks installed like K-Lite?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Pepper Marie]

Hey John, thanks so much for the reply.

It’s happening with every video I upload, whether it be new, or ones that I have even worked with before. I have two codecs currently installed, which were the ones I had before with Vegas Pro 12 and never had a problem.

Codecs:
D-i-v-x AVI Codec Pack Pro 2.4.0
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 10.4.0

[John Rofrano]

[Pepper Marie] “D-i-v-x AVI Codec Pack Pro 2.4.0, K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 10.4.0”

Hey Pepper, Here’s the problem: These and not just two codecs. There are collections of multiple codecs that will blindly overlay the high quality codecs that you paid Sony good money for, with free questionable quality codecs that often don’t work with Vegas Pro or Movie Studio. You never want to install codec paks on a video editing PC. Vegas doesn’t need any additional codecs to process MPEG4 video and if your video is black, it is definitely a codec problem which means Vegas and the codec paks are not playing nice together.

The only advice I can give is to uninstall Vegas, uninstall both codec paks, reboot the computer, and re-install only Vegas. This might clear up the issue. These codec paks have been know to not uninstall cleanly which means they do permanent damage. Let’s hope that didn’t happen.

If you’d like, feel free to upload one of these files to the COW or other file sharing site lie DropBox and I’d be happy to download it and try it on my Vegas Pro 13.0 workstation and see if I get the same black video. That will let you know if it’s something with this file or something with your computer and the codec paks. If it’s your computer then you can try the unintall steps above.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Pepper Marie]

Ah, thanks John. That actually could be it. The only thing is that I would need a codec pack either way, since I use a lot of AVI Files, and sony vegas doesn’t seem to get along with those. Are there any that you could recommend for that problem? I’m definitely going to take your advice and see what happens. I have a feeling it’s what you said about them not doing a “clean uninstall.” I’m going to check that out, see if I can maybe even wipe it all off (since sometimes programs uninstall and stay in the registry, and all that jazz), so I’ll keep you posted about that one.

I’ll let you know when I upload those files. I just don’t want your computer to get all messed up with experimenting with these crappy codecs, lol.

[John Rofrano]

[Pepper Marie] “IThe only thing is that I would need a codec pack either way, since I use a lot of AVI Files, and sony vegas doesn’t seem to get along with those. Are there any that you could recommend for that problem?”

What you should do is use a program like GSpot and open the AVI file with that and it will tell you what codec the video uses and if it’s installed. Then go to the site for that codec and just download the one codec that you need. That’s the proper way to handle missing codecs.

Installing a codec pak is like going to your medicine cabinet when you are sick and taking one of each pill that you find. Eventually you will find the pill that will make you better but the others could kill you! With a codec pak, just because you need a single codec for an AVI file, you are replacing all of the other codecs on your system and totally messing up the Vegas codecs that have nothing to do with your AVI file. Do you understand now why codec paks are so dangerous and should be avoided? Codec paks are for people who just want to watch multiple types of videos and don’t have any codecs installed. Video editors that have codecs from their video software should never install codec paks. Video editors should find the one missing codec that they need for a particular file and just install that one.

[Pepper Marie] “I’ll let you know when I upload those files. I just don’t want your computer to get all messed up with experimenting with these crappy codecs, lol.”

Actually I can help you find the one codec that you need so that it doesn’t mess up your computer again.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Pepper Marie]

Hey John, here’s the 411:

I did what you told me, delete everything and re-install. I wiped the codecs completely, wiped Vegas completely, and re-installed. I didn’t install the codec packs again. Thought the issue was fixed, but nope. I’m still getting the black preview in event pan and crop.

What should I do next? Getting a little frustrated with this already, since I can’t work on anything since I don’t know what I’m panning and/or masking.

*sigh*

[John Rofrano]

Is there any way you can upload one of the MP4 files that doesn’t work so I can test it?

What does MediaInfo say about the file? Can you post the output here?

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Pepper Marie]

EDIT: Okay, I just realised that it keeps starting from the very first frame. For example, if I’m on the timeline, and I want to mask something that’s a keyframe 5 minutes into the movie, when I open the Event Pan and Crop window, it acts as if I right-clicked on the first frame of the clip versus what I really wanted, so I have to keep scrolling on the keyframe timeline in the preview window to get to the part that I want. It’s incredibly frustrating but at least we’re somewhat of a step closer.

I’m not sure it’s the file, because it’s doing it with everything I upload. I’ve even tried converting the file and nothing. Not sure what to do. I need this issue fixed by tomorrow, since I have to edit a project for class due Monday, and haven’t been able to work with it. Mediainfo and the other program you gave me both say the videos codecs are installed on Vegas and ready to use. Not sure why I’m still having this issue though.

[John Rofrano]

[Pepper Marie] “I’ve even tried converting the file and nothing. Not sure what to do.”

Try using AviDemux 2.5 to convert the file to Motion-JPEG with PCM audio. Here are the settings:

It’s worth a shot and I know you have to get your project complete. (Make sure you us the 2.5 version and not a newer version)

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Raul Mata]

i need your help,i have probably the same issue, but, i have the 12 version of vegas, and in the box of the media, says, something like…. Video. vegas cant, determinate the attributes for current, (some like that, because i have the spanish version) i´m using media transcoding in a mac, so its apple proRes mpeg2 (probably) Please Help me!